


Not coming back

by TheCrazyFriend



Series: Out of Time [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Doctor Brenner is a psychotic son of a bitch, F/F, Post Season 3, Post-Canon, Sad Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-10-13
Packaged: 2019-08-01 15:31:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,374
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16287167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheCrazyFriend/pseuds/TheCrazyFriend
Summary: Set two years after the closing of the gate





	Not coming back

**Friday 13th May, 1988, 10:05pm**

“The only survivor found in the remnants of the lab was a girl who was about seventeen years old having seemingly been abandoned” the news correspondent who stood in the place of Jim Hopper's nightmares stated solemnly. “She has been taken for assessment at Central State Hospital in Indianapolis while investigators attempt to piece together what has happened.”  
“Oh fuck" the Chief of Police sat in his home with a sleeping girl with bleached blonde hair slumped against his side. He didn't dare wake her, the news would be too much for her to take

**Thursday 10th April 1986, 01:07am**

“Wake. Up. Maxine. If you're receiving this, wake the hell up already" a gruff voice stated through one of the two radios on a bedside table. One was used to speak to the other members of a group of friends that called themselves The Party and another for emergency use only. The first was set to a frequency everyone in The Party which consisted of four boys, two girls, three men, and two women, knew and the second to one that only her and two others were aware of  
“Mmmph?” The redhead rolled over in her bed and opened her eyes  
“Maxine! Wake up goddamnit!”  
“Chief?”  
“Finally!! I need you to get a small bag of clothes and be ready on your doorstep in five minutes!!” His disembodied voice came out of the latter of the two radios  
“What's going on, Hop?”  
“Be ready in five minutes”  
“Shit" Max rolled out of bed, instantly awake and alert. _That wasn't panic in the Chief’s voice was it?_  
Running on autopilot while her heart constricted painfully at the implications of what that could mean, the redhead rushed around her room and gathered a bag of clothes. Forgoing what girlie stuff she had she shoved her most practical clothes unceremoniously into a small duffel bag along with a toothbrush and a bottle of shampoo, her makeup and other stuff her mother had got for her in an effort to interest her in ‘normal girlie things' were scattered across the floor in her haste to get ready  
“Where are you going, Shitbird?” An unwelcome voice asked, slurring from the couch in their living room as she crossed it on her way to the door  
“Out” Max replied simply with a raised middle finger

Max slammed the door behind her in an effort to slow Billy down and she jumped into a car that appeared to be driving down her street on the way to some destination. Max looked up once she had thrown herself into the car and landed on her tummy on something bony. “Get off me, Mayfield.” The driver hadn't even given Max the chance to get in properly before he spun the wheels and drove off once again at a higher speed, leaving the kids to sort themselves out and shut the door  
“Wheeler?”  
“I see you've met each other before" Hopper spoke from the driver's side and big brown eyes watched the pair from the passenger seat as Max pulled herself off the lanky boy she hadn't expected to land on  
“What the hell are you doing here?” Max asked watching her brother run out into the front yard out of the back of the car, Billy was hurrying to try and see the car's registration and the boy in question simply shrugged in response, shutting the car door  
“Hop gave me three minutes to be ready by the door” he replied simply  
“Wheeler, Maxine" Hopper smirked slightly as the pair looked at him in irritation, “Brenner found us. I got a warning from Owens" _Jesus Christ I sure do owe that man_ “He warned me to get the hell out of Hawkins” he looked at them both, “we're all fugitives now"  
“The name is Mike, James"  
“And nobody calls me Maxine"  
“Actually, nobody calls you Mike, or Michael and nobody calls you Max or even Maxine. From now on you forget those names ever existed, got it?” Hopper watched them closely. They both gulped and nodded, the seriousness of everything had just begun to hit them in earnest. “Your names are...” He took two pieces of paper from his pocket and handed one to Mike and the other to Max  
“Shit, not cool" Max mumbled holding her piece of paper close to her face so she could read it in the dim light. “Elizabeth" she mumbled, turning to Mike. Regardless of the fact that she thought getting a fake ID was just about the coolest thing ever except for what the girl named Jane Hopper could do with her mind, she wouldn't ever admit such a thing  
“Elliot” he replied in an undertone, sounding neutral about his new identity.  
Their faces peered back at them from the pieces of paper they were holding as Jane finally spoke up, “I am Eleanor" she was holding an identical piece of paper in her hand  
Hopper smirked at their dumbfounded faces. “Owens had these IDs prepared, he never allowed himself to see them and I put your photos on them so if he gets discovered he won't be able to rat us out. These are all temporary IDs until we reach a safe place to stay and change our appearances, understand?” Both the kids nodded and Hopper pulled over. “Elliot, you're the oldest so you're up front with me" he pointed at Mike who nodded quickly. “Call me dad” Hopper added in a stern voice  
“Yes, dad" he nodded and jumped out the car while Jane took his place immediately wrapping her hand around Max's. “Look, I get why Mayfield” Hopper coughed, “uh sorry. Elizabeth, I get why Elizabeth came but why me?”  
Hopper smiled, remembering how nervous Jane had been before she introduced him to her _girlfriend_. Hopper had known it was a distinct possibility that Jane would want to try out having a girlfriend ever since he found out about Jane's bisexual sister, Kali. Jane never had the same peer pressure as other kids to be ‘straight', what he hadn't banked on though was how permanent her new relationship with a certain redhead had become. “Kid,” he began, reminiscing at the same time as explaining, “Eleanor still loves you so very much, and the bad men still think the two of you are together so it's safer for all of us this way.” Having said his piece he settled back down to continue their long drive to their final destination. 

“What about the rest of The Party?” The leader, Mike had spoken his worries about the rest of their little group that had been complete for several years. Four years beforehand just the four boys, Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas considered their party complete, a year later they had made room for a girl, Eleven and two years ago they extended it to include another girl, Max, three people in their late teens, Mike's sister Nancy, Will’s brother Jonathan as well as the babysitter of the group, ‘King' Steven Harrington and even two adults, Jane's adoptive father Chief Jim Hopper and Will’s mom, Joyce. Those eleven people made up the core of the party and were inseparable though other members were inducted as additional members as circumstances required, a newcomer to the town, Robin had been added for a while in 1965 as had Lucas's sassy sister Erica, much to her big brother's worry and annoyance.  
“No time" Hopper replied simply, observing how the others would take abandoning the rest of the party. To his surprise, it was Max who spoke up  
“Uh no. That's not happening, they need to be warned" she insisted  
“They will be, but first I need to get the three of you to safety”

Jane perked up when she realized where they were headed. “Chicago" she pointed at it  
“Yup” Hopper smiled, “we stop here to change, alter our appearances, eat, sleep and then we go”  
“Where are we gonna stay?” Mike asked incredulously  
“I have an idea" Jane whispered  
“I've already planned every move" with that, everyone fell into silence. 

Mike looked up at an abandoned looking warehouse, the car gliding slowly to a halt. He took in his surroundings, surprised when a door opened and a dark-skinned girl with purple hair stepped out. “Who's...”  
“Sister” Jane whispered, leaping out the car and running to the older girl  
“Sister” Kali whispered, holding Jane close to her chest  
“Miss Jane” an overweight black man smiled gently  
“Shirley" a man with a mohawk grumbled as Jane hugged them all  
“Elliot, Elizabeth, meet Kali” Hopper explained, “Eight”  
Max and Mike's mouths fell open but that gave Kali the chance to introduce the rest of her gang, “Funshine, Axel, Mick and Dottie” she pointed at each of them. Kali then turned back to the newcomers. “Hello, Jane's Policeman” she smiled some, “you must be the skater” she looked Max up and down, “and you're the boyfriend?”  
“The name's Ma... Elizabeth”  
“Elliot" Mike held his hand out, “and actually that one is the boyfriend"  
“Shut up” Max sighed  
“Oh?” Kali smiled, “it's okay to be gay here, Elizabeth... Eliza"  
Max sighed in relief. “Come on we’d better get back inside” Mick spoke  
The small group followed them in and settled around the fire in a metal container. “So Papa is still alive after all" Kali stated it and Jane nodded  
“We are going to disappear" Hopper grunted  
“I gathered as much" Kali stood and led them upstairs, “sorry this is the only bed we have"  
Hooper nodded, “The girls can take it"

The group slept awkwardly then were up early the next morning. Hopper started outlining their plan. The gang would help the kids change their appearance while he worked out what they were going to do next. Kali and the others set about transforming each of the kids, first bleaching Max’s hair then adding dye to make her hair black then moving on to Jane's, straightening it then dying it. Mike's hairstyle was changed to match the others but very little else was done with it. Kali gave them the option of having their hair slicked back to which Jane answered with an eager nod. “Bitchin’!” while both Mike and Max giggled at her cute response  
Hopper meanwhile pulled out old clothes he had kept from his younger years and, because he had lost a fair amount of weight they fitted him, just about. He then shaved away his old hairstyle, taking inspiration from Axel’s Mohawk much to Jane's amusement and set off to find the most bitchin' clothes he could for his three children, leaving his signature hat on the fire

Changed, showered, rested, fed and armed with new IDs and guns Hopper led his new family back into the wide cruel world very much unaware that he had picked up a tail as far back as the Wheelers' house. The two smartly dressed agents had lost track of them in Chicago but had picked them up again by chance on the freeway north. A few hours later and a few hundred miles north, Brenner waited on an isolated section of the freeway, backed by what was pretty much a private army, he had used up each and every single one of the favors he was owed to build himself such a strong force with several groups hanging back out of sight in case Eleven became violent and crushed their brains. Hopper had noticed he hadn't seen any cars driving the opposite direction, too late as it turned out. Hopper slammed the throttle to the ground as someone took potshots at the car. “Shit!! Down!!” He had screamed at the kids  
“What the fuck?!” Max yelled Dustin's newest favorite phrase and pushed Jane to the floor, landing on top of her to shield her with her own body. Mike had also sworn and pulled out his shotgun, returning fire  
“Shit!! They hit the tires!!” Hopper yelled, hearing the useless rubber flap about through the broken window. He tried to keep going but a roadblock soon curtailed his attempts to escape. Brenner was out of sight though he could be heard on a loudspeaker

“Eleven!” his disembodied voice boomed, “leave the car and come out with your hands up!!”  
The girl in question led under Max, her blood had run cold at the sound of his voice. Mike answered by shooting out through the windshield at them. “Fuck you, fucking psychotic son of a bitch!!” Hopper had roared back, expertly shooting the loudspeaker  
“Ah you brought daddy Hopper along with you, as well as the skater and your boyfriend"  
At the mention of Max, Jane had stiffened and threw a few cars, trying to throw the one Brenner was in just by luck. “Sweetie, stop” Max had whispered  
“I was the one who made you get into this situation, I'll get you out of it" Jane replied and wiped her nose. She flipped the nearest car on to its side and dragged it closer once she had broken the necks of the agents in the car. “How many tires are flat?” She asked Hopper  
“Just the one"  
“you change it and I'll hold them off"  
Hopper almost laughed at the absurdity of her plan but, having no better ideas he nodded and got out of the car, it had spun around noisily to make a protective shield with Hopper's side and the busted tire on the inside of a triangle of three cars, Jane had moved the third car with her powers just as she'd moved theirs and the second car. Eleven stood with her head and shoulders poking out of the sunroof and she began to make quite an effective diversion, hurling people left right and center. She took a few hits from rubber bullets and even a few real ones but Max noticed that her clothes seemed to be amour plated. _Nice plan, Hop_ she thought. A few minutes later Hopper had clambered back into the car to start it and flee. Jane dropped down into the car and Brenner's men ran forward to apprehend them only to find the vehicle driving straight at them. Hopper mowed the agents down without hesitation, spun the car around and drove off at high speed. 

“They're coming back this way, Doctor" Ray had stated quietly, preparing to spring the trap.  
“Very good, Ray, on my mark...” Brenner waited until the timing was perfect and he gave the order. “Mark!”  
Ray hit a button and a metal cable lifted up off the road in front of the fleeing car, the occupants of which hadn't even had time to work out what had happened. Within a split second, they had gone from fleeing for their lives to flipping end over end in the air. “FUCK!!” Jane had screamed the one word and attempted to use her powers to soften their landing to no avail. The car slammed down hard on its roof with a massive crunch. The occupants had all been wearing their seatbelts else they would have been thrown out of the car as it hit the metal cable, as it was the landing had rendered them all unconscious for at least a few seconds. 

Jane was the first to recover, she saw the limp bodies of the three people she loved the most and realized that if they kept on like that none of them would survive. She fumbled with her seatbelt which also gave her the chance to collect her thoughts into a cohesive whole before she landed heavily on her shoulder. “Shit" she mumbled, she used the arm she had not landed on to check each of their pulses as Hopper had once taught her. Reassured they were all still alive, she pulled herself out of the car window and on to the blacktop. “Ouch” she groaned looking down at the piece of glass in her arm which she removed with her powers. She was deliberately taking her time and ignoring the heavy footfalls of many bad men running towards her until they were all around her. “Stop" she stated and lifted her hand, she watched all the bad men stumble to a stop before her with suppressed amusement.  
“Eleven"  
_Finally_  
“Eleven"  
“Papa. If I come with you now, will you promise to leave them" she indicated the flipped car, “alone?”  
“You learned new words," Brenner remarked, then “yes, I promise"  
Jane lowered her hand and sighed, flopping down on to the hard surface of the freeway, her exhaustion finally forcing her to succumb to unconsciousness, _The trap is sprung_.  
Brenner chuckled to himself, “take her and eliminate any loose ends" he instructed. Most of the bad men clambered back into their cars though a few stayed behind to make the flipped car look as if it had been involved in a real car smash.

The men laughed as they set about the car, the occupants still unconscious. They knew they would be getting a hefty paycheck for the mission they had just completed. One of the men picked up a shard of glass and, pulling Mike out of the car, he lifted it to plunge it into his neck.  
“Stop" a voice declared, a voice the guard hadn't heard in years  
“Eight?” He inquired, _what the hell are you doing here?_  
“The name... is Kali!” She hissed, a minivan pulled out of a nearby thicket of trees at speed and bounced on to the blacktop, hitting two of the three men and killing them instantly, the third, the one confronted by Kali was shot in the head by Axel. “Load them up" she whispered, wiping her face of tears, she knew what had happened, Jane was missing, therefore she had sacrificed herself to keep the other three safe. “Shit" she sat down heavily and started to sob. Strong fearless Kali never cried but she made the exception that one time, her innocent sister was on the way back to Brenner's lab wherever it was and she had failed to rescue her once before but never again.  
“Kal, let's get going" Mick whispered to the other woman  
“Mmhmm" Kali nodded, wiping the tears away  
Funshine pulled her up and cuddled her. “We'll find Miss Jane"  
_Not likely_ “I know guys, let's get home"  
Funshine and the others nodded and lifted the three unconscious figures into the back of their minivan. Soon after they started back towards Chicago one of the figures groaned and sat bolt upright. “Wait, where's El?!”  
“I know your name is Michael, not Elliot” Kali spoke quite gently much to the surprise of the others. “Jane didn't want me to tell you since she had a plan but Brenner took her. She sacrificed herself for you three”  
“Fuck" Mike immediately became a brooding angry mess and by the time they had gotten back to the warehouse he had made up his mind. “I want to join you, I want to hunt down and kill the bad men" Kali had nodded again to the surprise of the others

Four hours later Max and hopper groaned, slowly coming to. The four days after that were of rest and recuperation before they went their separate ways to hunt down the bad men and rescue Jane. On the third morning, Max walked in and smiled, the first time she had smiled since Jane had been taken by Brenner. “El visited me in my dream” she spoke directly to Hopper, “she's safe, she escaped. She's hiding out in the town near that lab" Hopper felt a jolt of nostalgia and relief. Kali listened in from nearby, drying her eyes with her hand.  
“N... now that Jane is safe, you two need to get going, go hide somewhere, she'll reach out to you when its safe to do so" Kali felt, for the first time, sick at her words, the _lies_ coming out of her mouth. She had already explained that Mike had left and had already set off to discover himself armed with his new identity ands a few weapons, he had hoped to stumble across her on his travels.  
Max was insistent, as they pulled away from the warehouse in a new car, their permanent new identities stowed safely in their wallets. She wanted to explore the country like Mike, visit all the little towns in an effort to find Jane but Hopper decided it would be better for them to settle down until Jane contacted them. He reminded Max that Jane was his daughter but they knew she was safe and that she would contact them when it was safe. Max recalled the image she had of Jane, still bitchin’ in her punk look and standing on some street corner somewhere in a small town where she looked Max directly in the eyes and spoke directly to her, using her real name for the first time in days. _“Max, I know you're gonna want to come searching for me but I am safe, I escaped papa again, stupid old man is constantly underestimating me and I am safe in the next town over. Hiding in people's basements again”_ the Jane in the dream chuckled and winked, _“remember, I will always love you, Max. While I am in love with you, please tell the other two people I love, Mike and my dad that I love them too and that I'm safe. See you soon Maxxie, my Zoomer"_  
“I love you too, Elli” Max had replied out loud with a smile. Unbeknownst to Max, Kali had been watching over her that night as it was part of the plan. 

**Tuesday 15th September 1986, 10:28pm**

“They're gone" Kali spoke, tapping lightly on the door she was stood in front of  
“About time" a voice replied, there were footsteps on the other side of the door and a boy opened the door, letting Kali inside. She took in the new hairstyle, the boy’s hair was cut incredibly short and he had a new tattoo on his wrist, she knew what it said without seeing it.  
“So, Paladin,” Kali began  
“Yes, Kal?”  
“Let's go to work"  
“And kill some bad men?”  
Kali nodded and led him to the room where they had a huge amount of photographs, documents and newspaper clippings pinned to the wall. The six members of the gang, Kali, Funshine, Mick, Axel, Dottie, and Paladin then set to work, to find the bad men and punish them for what they had done to the girl who without a doubt had resumed her former life as Eleven

**Monday 14th September 1986, 07:02am**

“Good morning, Eleven"  
“Papa"  
“I'm glad you're finally awake and back at home"  
_I have been awake since early this morning, you sick old man_. “Me too Papa"  
“Are you ready to continue?” He asked  
The girl, once again dressed in a flotation suit with buzzed hair stood ready to be lowered into the bath, the 'sensory deprivation tank' as Dustin had once called it. She knew it would be her one chance to contact Max who she was sure was resting up ready to start a crusade across the whole of the country to find the girl she loved once again and kill anyone who got in her way. She knew she had to head her off before she started else they might still end up dead despite her careful planning. She was lowered into the tank and instead of focusing on the man Brenner wanted her to find she focused on the girlfriend she loved more than anything or anyone. “Max” she let her lips move around the name not making any noise as she knew Brenner, she had refused to call him Papa in her head and if everything went to plan she would soon call him by his name in an act of defiance, could hear her over the microphone in the plastic helmet she wore. She launched herself forward into the void, knowing that that was how she would find Max, pull her in if she could. Sure enough, it took her no time to find Max who, luckily for her was asleep. Jane pulled on Max's subconscious, pulling her into the dream world she had created. A nameless street corner with no identifying features. Jane stood before Max, careful to ensure that Max saw only what she wanted her to see, the street corner and not the tank, the bitchin’ MTV punk outfit and hairdo not the buzzed hair and the flotation suit. “Max,” she had begun, trying to fight to control he wayward emotions as well as the reality her girlfriend saw was very difficult for her. “I know you're gonna want to come searching for me...” Jane's heart shattered at how beautiful and hopeful her girlfriend looked as she continued relaying her carefully crafted message to the girl she loved, she knew she was being bad, that she was lying but she knew she couldn't let Max risk herself to save her, she knew how those fictional characters felt, the concept of ‘if you love them you have to let them go' had remained wonderfully mysterious. _Ignorance truly is bliss_  
Jane woke to Brenner hammering on the glass of the tank to get her attention. She returned to reality and knew Brenner had seen her tears. She knew what was coming, the helmet that stopped her using her abilities and the dark room. She let out a strangled sob as Max replied to her secret message, _“I love you too, Elli.”_ Brenner's men had put the helmet on her, sedative guns pointed at her from multiple directions but Jane was beyond caring.  
“You know what, Brenner, my dad was correct, you are a psychotic son of a bitch" Jane grinned then she reached within her own mind, she had a secret nobody else, not even Kali knew. Having had years to explore her powers both inside and outside the lab she had found while watching those she loved during the three hundred fifty-three days alone that she could...  
**Crack**  
Something in her mind had broken.  
“Rainbow" The girl mumbled from where she was on her knees. “Kali. Mike. Eggos. Dad. Home. Maxxie. Girlfriend. Love.”

**Author's Note:**

> please leave feedback
> 
> The ending was inspired by a fic I read on FF.net (Twelve by Darthstormer).


End file.
